The facility was full of celebrants as a grand opening celebration for the El Segundo Wiseburn Aquatics Center was held Saturday, Jan. 5. The City of El Segundo and Wiseburn Unified School District – in partnership with South Bay Sports, Health & Recreation – partnerned on the $13.8 million development and construction budget to build the El Segundo Aquatics Center at 300 Duley Road. The aquatics center is funded with $6 million from Wiseburn, $1.8 million from the City of El Segundo, and an additional $6 million being gathered from private sponsorships and public fundraising.

And when one local swim club — Alpha Aquatics — came away with the impression from city officials that it could be excluded from the new pool, it launched a public awareness campaign.

Over the past several weeks, club members peppered the city with roughly 150 yard signs and contacted City Council members and city officials, all in an effort to lobby for space at the new aquatics center.

On Tuesday, Feb. 5, the City Council largely resolved the issue by voting 4-0 (Councilman Chris Pimentel recused himself) to prioritize Alpha Aquatics and South Bay United Water Polo because they have the greatest number of local members.

Nine swim clubs and water polo leagues applied to the city to use the new pool. While the top-rated swim club, Beach Cities Swimming, is larger than Alpha Aquatics, it has fewer local members.

At the Tuesday meeting, the Council also passed a fee schedule that will still need some adjustments, such as setting separate rates for off-peak hours and groups such as seniors. Peak rates at full price were set at $25 per hour for a 25-meter lane and $45 per hour for a 53.2-meter lane.

While the complete details as far as pool time have yet to be worked out, Jay Mortenson, board president for Alpha Aquatics, with close to 80 local members, said he was satisfied.

“I strongly believe we are going to have a very satisfactory outcome,” he said.

The club currently swims at the city’s aging Plunge facility, which is in need of repairs. The new aquatics center features two pools, one 10-lane pool 53.2 meters long and another four-lane teaching pool 25 meters long.

The Council also directed staff to determine pool time based on the number of local residents, to maximize peak hours and to consider the pool’s financial impact on the city.

El Segundo expects to operate the aquatics center at a loss of about $200,000 to $300,000 each year, said Meredith Petit, director of Recreation and Parks Department.

The total operating costs of the pool are estimated to be a little more than $1 million per year, Petit said. Under an agreement with the Wiseburn Unified School District, the city operates the pool and the district retains ownership.

One resident, Lee Davis, questioned how the city could afford to run the pool at a deficit but not The Lakes, the city’s publicly owned golf course. El Segundo recently moved forward with the private company Topgolf to develop the driving range and clubhouse.

“How will the golfers feel – not to mention baseball and soccer families – if we don’t make a strong financial choice?” Davis said.

David Rosenfeld has been working as a professional journalist for nearly 20 years at newspapers, magazines and websites. He's covered murder trials, interviewed governors and presidential candidates and once did a flip in a biplane for a story assignment. Before joining The Daily Breeze in 2018 to cover El Segundo, Hawthorne and aerospace, he worked at The Beach Reporter in Redondo Beach. In his free time, David loves outdoor sports such as sailing, mountain biking and golfing.